Coda Automotive is now without a chief executive after Kevin Czinger resigned “by mutual consent.” The timing is peculiar – this isn’t a fallen star like Wade Philips and the Dallas Cowboys. Coda plans to present its first electric car sedan at the Los Angeles Auto Show this month. It’s also in the midst of applying for a federal loan to fund a manufacturing facility and raising a Series D round of funding. “This is really par for the course when it comes to what start-ups do,” Coda spokesman K. Forrest Beanum told VentureWire. He did say that the company has altered its business plan somewhat in the past month and a half, but declined to specify.

Groupon may not give venture capitalists a discount when it comes to an investment. Bloomberg BusinessWeek reports the daily coupon site is seeking venture financing at a valuation of $2 billion to $3 billion. That compares to the $1.3 billion price tag issued in April when an investment group led by Russian firm Digital Sky Technologies invested in the company. Groupon, one of the fastest growing Internet companies of all time, has already raised about $170 million in venture funding.

Next up on the IPO docket: Two venture-backed life sciences companies whose auditors warn they might not be able to continue as going concerns. Cutanea Life Sciences and Complete Genomics hope to pull off IPOs a la Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, which gained 16% in its debut despite its auditor’s warning. Also on the life-sciences exit front, Eli Lilly agreed to buy Avid Radiopharmaceuticals for at least $300 million – with up to $500 million in milestone payments – after investors including AllianceBernstein and Alta Partners invested $70 million in the start-up.

Timing is everything, especially when it comes to Web start-ups. Angel investor and Hunch co-founder Chris Dixon explains why nearly every large Web company since the dot-com bubble has succeeded where others failed. The timing was right – “fundamental changes in the world that enable the idea you are pursuing to finally succeed.”

We’ve all heard about people who were fired because of their Facebook posts. Well, now the National Labor Relations Board is striking back against employers for the first time. The NLRB, which settles disputes between private-sector employers and employees, alleges a company illegally fired a worker for criticizing her boss on Facebook. The agency contends the employee’s Facebook postings constitute “protected concerted activity.”

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